[BTS] SGOTM 26 - Unusual Suspects

[kcd_swede]

A proposal:
We play thru to AH to reveal horses before settling another. Pause and relfect if writing comes next, or we want to see copper or go sailing.

Bibracte:
finish wb, to scout south landmass
(probably another wb to scout west landmass next, but thats for a later plan)
worker to improve deer first.

Vienne:
finish monument and then go to complete worker

Tolosa:
finish worker to improve wheat
start wb to scout N landmass

Slider 100% to get AH in 6t leaving 4coins in reserve

I could alternatively see settling 1 more city now, but that will slow down AH, so prefer not to.

Scouting: Only 1 more tile can be revealed w/o wb or OB, so settler in NW goes N just to check.
Pause and discuss next tech, and settle options.

I have the save and could play these turns if you guys are OK with that. If there is any specific micromgmt (which tiles to work and/or shift), I'm open to suggestions.

 

[ChrisShaffer]

How many turns would it slow down AH?

 

[SittinDown]

@ChrisShaffer - probably a lot. our maintenance is already -5, and we aren't working any commerce tiles, and the next best site is pretty far from the capital. I think we should wait until we're at least working one of the furs before we found city #4, and ideally also after seeing horses / metals.

My guess is no horses, but probably iron. Otherwise, what's the fun in picking Celtia if you can't build their UU? [Metagaming].

@kcd_swede - I like it mostly.

• I think - Tolosa should do a monument before a WB, because the 2nd food, and furs are in the 2nd ring.
• Tolosa's worker is out of stuff to do as soon as it farms the wheat, so it should probably assist Vienne's pasture / rice farm before heading back in time to improve the furs.
• Deer first seems right, even though it's kind of a junk tile (3/1), and burns 3 worker-turns just to get to it. Plains furs might be better first to speed up tech.

I'm up for playing until AH is researched, barring meeting new leaders, et cetera.

Please grab demographics at end, and if you can, take a look at SB's espionage at the end to see if he meets anyone else.

WB scouting here will be critical when we can get it, and I think that'll tell us a lot of whether we want to go for Sailing & Expansion, or Writing -> Oracle -> CS slingshot.

 

[ChrisShaffer]

I'm also fine with playing the 5-6 turns until AH comes in. @kcd_swede if you could post screenshots of the cities, map overview, and some of the demo screens (whichever you think are important) after your set, that would be great.

 

[kcd_swede]

OK, I will do it with these modifications as soon as I get another GREEN, or at least no objections before 24hrs. @Deckhand

PPP as above but with these minor changes:

• Tolosa should do a monument before a WB, (only affects last turn in PPP)

• Tolosa's worker is out of stuff to do as soon as it farms the wheat, so it should probably assist Vienne's pasture / rice farm before heading back in time to improve the furs. (this actually will come after AH, and after PPP, so plenty of time to decide)

• Plains furs (instead of 3 turns walking to do deer) first to speed up tech.

 

[SittinDown]

@kcd_swede - I'm still on the fence about the plains furs instead of the deer. hoping to get some other opinions there on which is best.

 

[ChrisShaffer]

The choice is between:

1. Walk x3, camp tundra/hill/deer 3f 1h, walk x1, start cow.
   
2. Walk x1, camp plains/hill/fur 2h 4c, walk x1, start cow.
   
3. Walk x1, camp tundra/hill/fur 1h 4c, walk x0, start cow.
4. Walk x1, camp tundra/flat/fur 1f 4c, walk x0, start cow.

I think I like 2,3,4 better than 1, because to my mind starting the cow earlier is more important than the distinction between deer and fur. I also think we could really use the commerce to speed up our early research.

I think the choice between 2,3,4 comes down to how long it will take to build the camp (note worker actions take 25% longer on tundra) and which leads to a faster cow. If I had to rank them, I'd probably do 2 > 4 > 3 > 1.

 

[kcd_swede]

I like 2. I'll hold off until one of the others chimes in.

 

[SittinDown]

It's 4 turns on the PH, 5 turns on the tundra.

So option 2 is:
Walk 1 - improve 4 - Walk 1. If AH is ready in 6 turns, that timed perfectly for the Cow being improved.

Option 4 also has good timing being:
Walk 1 - Camp 5 - Move & Pasture - 1.

 

[ChrisShaffer]

I'm fine with kcd making a decision and playing forward.

 

[kcd_swede]

Should I wait for more input, or is unanimity among the 3 of us enough to go ahead? We aren't proposing anything drastic.

 

[ChrisShaffer]

We're at 200 posts and Home Silces are at 1,821. More importantly, nobody is even reading our thread

Home Slices and Phoenix Rising are at 100BC and 1000BC. It can't be in our best interests to spend three days worrying about one fur/deer decision...

 

[SittinDown]

Agreed. I'm happy with the flat fur or the PH fur. Either one is fine, then improve COWS. Deer should be improved later.

 

[kcd_swede]

OK... played to AH (t26). Vienne has horses in inner ring. West coast settle choice affected by horses too. No change in espionage screen, pics uploaded. Now the harder part... strategy?

 

[kcd_swede]

log from upload:
Here is your Session Turn Log from 3200 BC to 2960 BC:

Turn 20, 3200 BC: You have constructed a Monument in Vienne. Work has now begun on a Worker.

Turn 22, 3120 BC: Sitting Bull adopts Slavery!

Turn 25, 3000 BC: Bibracte will grow to size 3 on the next turn.
Turn 25, 3000 BC: You have discovered Animal Husbandry!
Turn 25, 3000 BC: You have discovered a source of Horse near Vienne!

Turn 26, 2960 BC: Bibracte has grown to size 3.

 

[ChrisShaffer]

I think we have to settle 1N of the northwest horses. 2 crab, 1 clam, 2 silver, horse, fur, stir, shake, and add some scientists and we'll have a research city for the ages.

 

[SittinDown]

. 2 crab, 1 clam, 2 silver, horse, fur, stir, shake, and add some scientists and we'll have a research city for the ages.

I like that spot too - though isn't it 1 crab, not 2? I think the other crab is 2 diag away. Horses give us basically a good green river mine, which is a pretty good tile given this land! East of there, there's also a decent 3 food spot with silver and furs.

• Short term - what tech is next? Lots of important options. Sailing, Writing, Mining all seem like tier 1 choices. Wheel / Pottery doesn't seem as necessary yet.

Medium Term:

• Keep exploring. Look for a good site on a different landmass (need sailing).
• Develop 3-4 cities on this continent. Head to Oracle.
• No conquest yet. SB is a bad HA target - will need cats if we want to conquer him.

Wonder Strategy:

• Great Wall is cheapest option for SPY city but Kremlin is decent. GW probably only good as early great-spy potential.
• Oracle is good - probably the best prophet wonder.
• Pyramids - probably the best engineer wonder. Hanging Gardens ok or Cristo as backup.
• GLH is solid , but it means no UN.
• Great library is good for science, Sankore is our backup if we miss GL. Space Elevator would be a disaster. (Fortunately, we can build the National Epic anywhere).

 

[kcd_swede]

We should time sailing for when we actually will be ready to build a galley, so not right away (but maybe after the next tech). Mining not great without BW, so its a bigger commitment. If we are thinking defense against SB's dog soldiers, then Wheel for chariots is the way to go. Dogs eat axes for breakfast.

I think writing ties in best with many of our aims. We will get the cheap techs pretty fast after that (and if we meet others and go alpha for trade,pretty good). And also it would let us try for OB. Agg AI won't open borders right away, I'm pretty sure.

As for scouting, its all done until we get OB or workboats. So workboats should be pretty high on the build queues.

Without scouting, we are flying blind, and further strategy is hard to justify.

I think settle the NW horse city as fast as possible (not decided on best spot). That gives us 4 cities, and we counteract maint with working the commerce tile. Should hold off on city 5 until scouting and/or metals revealed.

Immediate team decisions:
1) what tech next (I am leaning to writing>sailing)
2) settling (I am for 1 more city in NW)
3) I can't think of a number 3.

So lets decide those and we can move forward to the next tech, at least.

 

[kcd_swede]

1N of horse gets 2 seafood and 2 silver, 2N gets us 3 seafood an 1 silver. Which is better, crabs or sliver? I think the crabs comes with an additional forest,

 

[Zhary]

Great play! A lot of unexpected irl stuff happend in my life. Sorry for not beeing more active.
What I remember from testing is that writing definitely should come next. A library for bibs fur and palace is great. Also am I correct that we need ob to get through abs territory to see if there is any more Ai there?